I Promise That I'll Be Strong
by blackrain20
Summary: Sakura's view of her life is shattered as the people who she thought of as her friends and precious people turn their back on her. They call her weak and unfit for the life of a shinobi, but she sets out to prove them wrong and to keep the promise she made to him. The summary is really bad but please read the story and review. Its rated K for some of the language.
1. Weak

This is the first time I ever wrote a fic so don't hate when you read it and think its terrible. I just got some random idea and just started to type and it ended up a s this. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto even though I wish I did. And if I did I wouldn't be here writing this. I would be outside spending all the money I got from writing Naruto.

Sakura and the rest of the rookie 9 are 13 years old right now and team Guy is 15. Shikou is about 18.

* * *

The sun peaked through the windows of a small and worn down house. The pink haired kunochi on the bed turned away from the glare of the sun as she groaned "Ugh I hate mornings." She reluctantly got up from her bed and trudged her way into the bathroom shivering as her feet came into contact with the cold wooden floor.

On her way she noticed the bright red numbers on her clocked blinking 7:00 and her half opened eyes shoot open. She raced to the bathroom. "Why did I sleep for so long?! I gonna be so late. We agreed to meet at the bridge at exactly 7!"

She raced to the bathroom and took one of the quickest showers of her life. She quickly dried herself and put her clothes on. (The same one as she wore in shippuden) Running out of the bathroom she stubbed her toe and yelled "Ahh! Stupid door!" as her faced settled into a glare after morning events. Grumbling as she grabbed her pouches containing all her weapons and medical supplies she strapped them on. Two pouches filled with weapons on her thighs and her belt full of medical supplies around her waist. She paused by her bedroom door and her frowning mouth eased into a small sad smile as she looked toward a picture on the nightstand next to her bed.

There were two pictures on the stand. One was the picture Team Seven as genin. The other was of a shockingly white haired boy around the age of 16 with an arm around a little girl around the age of 11. The boy, obviously an anbu according to his attire, had a small smile upon his as her looked at the camera while the pink haired girl had a large smile that seemed to light up the picture. Despite the smiles on their faces both of the children's captivating dark green eyes spoke of the pain and suffering they had gone through. The dragon mask strapped onto the side of the boys head represented his position as an anbu captain. Though it was shocking for the boy to be an anbu captain at his age it showed that he was one of those rare prodigal ninja that showed upon every few years.

"I miss you nii-san" she wispered as the walked out the house and closed the door behind her with a sigh. She jumped across the rooftops to the bridge where team seven had always met. On her way she thought of how long it had been since her brother, Shikou Haruno, left. 2 years ago. She swore by the time he came back she would be a strong kunochi be would be proud of. She couldn't wait for the day she would be able to go on missions with him, missions with the anbu captain. However to one had to be a highly skilled anbu or co-captain to be able to go on a such a high leveled mission with an anbu captain. '_I can do it if I train hard enough. We all can. Me, Naruto-kun, and Sasuke-kun we're a team. My team.' _She looked up at the clouds and though of the similar cloudy day when her brother told her he would be leaving.

* * *

Flashback:

_"I'm home" she quietly said as she walked into her house. She hated and loved this place. It was where she grew up and everything but it was also the place where she and brother saw their parents be killed by some rogue ninja who had snuck into the village._

_I saw Shikou sitting on the couch with a serious and anguished expression on his face. I knew something was wrong when he turned to look looked at me because Shikou eyes always seemed to light up unless something terrible happened and his eyes were dark and cold now. With a sigh he said "Sakura come here. I need to talk to you." I slowly walked over to him and sat on the couch next to hi, tense as I waited for him to started talking. "I need to leave for a mission tomorrow." He said. "Oh. Is that it nii-san. You always go on missions. What's so important about this one?" "I'm leaving Sakura. I need to go to the Village Hidden in the Mist. I need to avenge mom and dad. My mission is to find those missing-nin and kill them. But I don't know how long it will take. I'm probably going to be gone for a few years." I froze._ 'Years. I knew he'd always wanted to avenge our parents. I did too. But I never though it would be this soon and that he would go without me. We are the only ones left for each other after our whole family died and now he's leaving for a few years.'

_In my shock I didn't notice as he got off the couch and knelt in front of me until he said "Sakura listen to me. I'll be back soon. I need you to be strong and wait for me to come back. You have to work hard and become a strong kunochi. Promise me that." I slowly nodded. "You better not die nii-san. I-I...but you're the only one left for me. Promise me you'll come back alive. Promise me." " I promised I will."_

_He hugged me and after a few minutes that felt like a lot more he finally said "Let's go see mom and dad one more time before I leave, okay." We got off the couch and went outside. He hand my hand as we walked to the memorial stone where our parents names were engraved. (Sakura's parents were ninja ihere except no one really knows them because they were just some average ninjas) We stood reminiscing through our memories of our graceful gentle mother and our strong brave father. We went back home at sunset._

_When I woke up the next morning my brother was gone and all I found was a one of his two special kunai and a small note saying _"Be brave little cherry blossom. Use the kunai well. I love you Imoto."_ I quickly wiped away the tears that were gathering in my eyes and determinedly picked up the kunai._ 'I promise I'll be a strong ninja just like you when you come back.'

End Flashback.

* * *

By the time she made it to the bridge everyone was already there including Kakashi-sensei. She knew it couldn't have taken her that long to get to the bridge even though she was distracted. _'I wonder why Kakashi-sensei got her so fast today.'_ The past few months Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke have been treating me a lot worse than before.

As I came into view I could see Naruto in his trademark orange jumpsuit waving his arms around yelling "Ohayo Sakura-chan!" A fondly smiled and waved back at him but I stumbled as I saw the expressions on Sasuke's and sensei's faces. My smile quickly died on my lips as they continued to glare at me. 'What's their problem? Is it because I was late? But I was only 15 minutes late and this was the first time that this ever happened. Kakashi-sensei is always late by a few hours.'

"You're late Sakura." Sensei said with an annoyed look on his usually blank face. "I'm sorry. I accidentally slep-" "Only weak people like you are late. Why are you even here? You're too weak to be a ninja." Sasuke cut in as he glared even harder at me. "TEME! TAKE THAT BACK!" Naruto yelled in my defense. "Sasuke's right Sakura. You're not cut for the life of a shinobi. You should just leave and live as a civilian like the rest of your family."

I stopped short in shock and confusion._ 'What do they mean civilian? My family isn't even alive anymore and they were ninja. They said I'm weak. I'm not weak. I try hard too. I don't even fawn over Sasuke anymore. The only reason I did was so that people would pay attention to me if I was loud and liked Sasuke like everyone else. I worked really hard too.'_

"But I-I… I'm not weak. I try just as hard as Sasuke and Naruto."

"No you don't and that's exactly the problem Sakura. You don't try as hard as them. It's obvious the only reason you wanted to join the academy was so that you could fawn over Sasuke. Just go home Sakura." Kakashi-sensei said to dismiss me. Sasuke just hned at me with another glare and the both of them turn around and began to walk to the training grounds. As I dazedly walked away, I heard Naruto yelling at Sasuke and Kakashi to take back their words and apologize to me.

* * *

After walking around the village trying to understand how all this had happened, I figured I should go talk to someone about what happened. So I headed over to the barbeque restaurant, where Ino's team was usually at, hoping that she would be there. I hadn't talked to Ino in a long time but I hoped I would see her since she was one of my only friends despite the fact that we fought over Sasuke.

When I walked in she was with sitting with the rest of the rookie nine, Team Guy, and their senseis. As I was about to say hi, I heard what they were talking about and stopped dead in my tracks.

"I heard that, when Naruto and Sasuke fought Gaara, Sakura just stood there yelling at them to do something. She never does anything other than fawn over Sasuke. She's so weak." Ino said. There were several nods from everyone._ 'How could she say that about me? I thought she was my best friend.'_

"Even Naruto's better than her and he was the dead last at the academy." Kiba added.

"She is so unyouthful. I don't know what I saw in her." Lee exclaimed._ 'But I thought you like me Lee.'_

Sh-she isn't strong en-enough to b-be a n-ninja." _'Even Hinata thinks so.'_

"It's fate. It isn't her destiny to be a kunochi. A weak person like her can never be a ninja." Neji said.

"And she calls me the pig. Tch. What a weakling." 'That was only a nickname though. You called me Billboard brow too.

Everyone nodded as the others spoke. I quickly ran out before anyone noticed me but in my rush I didn't see Shikamaru and Shino turn to look at as I fled from the restaurant.

* * *

I quickly ran back home and collapsed onto my couch as I started crying. _' Am I really that weak? I don't want to be, I can't be weak! I promised.' _I sobbed at the loss of those who I though were my friends, at the fact that they though I was weak, that they all thought I was obsessed with Sasuke, and mostly because I knew that I broke the promise I made to my brother. I sobbed until the darkness of sleep came over me.

* * *

Please review. Pretty please with cherries onto top.


	2. The Haruno Clan and True Friends

The story takes place after the chunnin exams. And Sakura came from the Haruno clan which was wiped out and the only remaining known survivors are Sakura and Shikou. She stopped being a fan girl and punching Naruto after that mission where they fought Haku and Zabuza.

Sakura won't become super strong or anything until a few more chapters. During this time Shikou is still in the Village Hidden in the Mist getting rid of a few S-class missing-nin including their parents' killers. It will be a bit slow at the beginning but I promise it'll get better.

I'm not Japanese so forgive me If I completely mess up on something and offend someone.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did Sakura and Itachi would be together.

* * *

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I groaned from my position on the couch. _'Wait….why am on the couch? What happened yesterday...oh'_ My eyes flew opened as the memories came in. _'It can't be.' _**"Hey."**_ 'INNER! Where were you all day yesterday? Wait! If you weren't there all yesterday it must have just been some weird nightmare, right? I've just been letting sensei's and Sasuke glares get to me. That's it.' _**"Sakura…about what happened yesterd-"**

Knock. Knock.

'Who's that? No one ever comes to my house. Its not like anyone cares about who I am. I'm no Uchiha or Hyuga or from some infamous clan. Everyone thinks I'm just some no name, no faced little girl who wants to be a ninja. No one even knows I'm the younger sister of the infamous White Dragon.'

I cautiously walked over to do the door and opened it to find a chunnin holding a scroll. As soon as I opened the door the boy stepped back and his eyes widened. "H-haruno, Sakura?" he asked.

I nodded. "Message from the Hokage" was all he said before quickly handing me the message and teleporting away. 'What is this? What would the hokage want with me? I closed the door and walked into my room. Maybe something happened to Shikou?! No. He promised he would come back and he will. But then what else could it be? What do you think inner? **'...'** 'Whatever she'll be back soon. It's not like she can go anywhere. Now for that scroll.'

**Sakura Haruno,**

**You are hereby no longer a member of team seven. As a decision made by the majority of your team, it has been decided that you would be removed from your current team. The reasons given for your removal from team seven were the following: **

**Inadequate for a team at this level**

**Unsuited To be a ninja **

**Holding back the last Uchiha**

**Sincerely,**

**Sandaime, Hokage**

The scroll slipped from the hands and I collapsed onto the ground. The reality of my situation hit me like a train. Tears sprung to my eyes. 'Oh my god' 'My team..' 'I thought we were a team, teams stick together. Am I that weak? Even my own team didn't want me. And Ino I thought we were best friends. How could they say that about me?!' I roughly wiped my tears away as the anger came in. 'How could they? They think I'm weak! That I'm some pathetic, obsessive fan girl. As if I'd like that stupid arrogant fool. I'm not holding him back. He holds the rest of the team back. He dosesn't care about team work all he does is go on about how he must avenge his family. He's the one holding us back. And now that his sharingan activated he's even worse than before. I'll show them. I'll make their lives a living hell. They'll regret the day they belittled and pissed off Sakura Haruno.'

I laughed coldly as I walked into the attic. _'I'll show them weak. Just wait.' _I pulled out a small wooden box that was somewhat covered in dust. Coughing as I opened it I reached down into the box and pulled out the one thing that was inside, a finely sharpened kunai.

It was not like the standard gray silver color kunai that ninja used. Instead it was a slightly longer white kunai that had a black handle with two black lines that ran down the outer sides of the two prongs. The handle was wrapped up in white bandages and peeking out from beneath the bandages was the head and neck of a roaring emerald colored dragon that continued on to the tip with its tailed wrapped around the base of the kunai. It was the kunai he left for me but I could never look at it without becoming overwhelmed by my sorrow.

It was one of Shikou's signature kunai. One of his trademarks: the white kunai with the emerald dragon and his white and green dragon mask. When he had the mask on the lonely part of his face that you could see was his pure white hair and his emerald green eyes.

Taking the kunai I walked further into the attic until I came to a small door on the ground. I opened the hatch of the door to see set of stairs that disappeared into the darkness. I knew these went on until they opened up to small room under the house. At the end of the stairway I found an old wooden door which I opened. As I lit the torch near the entrance of the room with a match that was placed there, I looked around to find the room filled with shelves of scrolls, training equipment, and the wall covered in weapons. I slowly smirked at my discovery.

The Haruno clan was not well known because we originally came from Whirlpool like the Uzumakis. Although we did not have a reputation in Konoha that did not mean we didn't have generations of skills and secrets passed through our family.

First I got some weights to improve my agility. **"You definitely need those. Bushy brows would kick your butt before you could say fast." **The weights were chakra enforced so even though they looked like thin, gray bracelets about on inch wide they weighed a lot.I could change the heaviness of the weights later by using a certain jutsu, so I wouldn't have to get new ones every time. I also gathered some of the scrolls that contained the basic ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. _'I can would about the other types later.'_ I knew that my clan was known for many things including their signature taijustu. We created our own form of taijutsu like the Hyuuga clan created Jyuuken. It's called the Ryu Tsume and was based in flexibility and ferocious attacks. Using our flexibility we dodge any attacks our opponents make and once we find an opening we strike fast and ferociously multiple times and withdraw before our opponents can strike back and repeat. Sadly my clan was wiped out before I was deemed old enough to be taught the form. My older brother Shikou learned it but he left on his mission before he could teach it to me.

I walked back up the stairs and out of my attic to my room where I placed the scrolls, weights, and kunai on my desk. I looked down at the things I had brought and nodded determinedly. _'If I don't have a team then I could train myself. They'll see just how 'weak' a Haruno is.' 'Mostly when they face the __k__ontorōru-me.'_

* * *

The Haruno clan was very secretive. They had many things that would make other hunt them down for their special abilities. One of these was our dojutsu, the kontorōru-me. (That literally means control eye. The rest of the dojutsus mean something-eye so I just thought I'd stick to the same thing.) Everyone who had the ability to activate the kontorōru-me had emerald green eyes. We knew that the reputation of other strong dojutsu like the sharingan, byakugan, and the rinnegan led other ninjas to try to steal the eyes of those who possessed these dojutsu, so we tried to keep our dojutsu as secret as possible, which wasn't too hard since most people never lived to tell anyone else about it and because of the powers of the kontorōru-me.

When our dojutsu activates, which usually happens after our bodies build up enough chakra around a certain age and during a life threatening situation, our trademark green eyes expand until our whole eye is dark green except of the pupil in the middle. (Sakura doesn't have enough chakra here and she's never been in life threatening situation.) The pupil turns white and expands. A few white lines shoot out from the pupil to the edge of our eyes. (I hope you can picture that.) There are three stages to the kontorōru-me. When it is first activated the user has partial control over his opponents mind and can see their chakra circulatory system. He or she can also see things that are far away in greater clarity. During the second stage, the user can also see through most things as well as go into their opponents mind. The can see things that are normally too fast for the naked eye. In the third and final stage the user gains complete control over their opponent's mind and body and their field of vision expands. _'Someday I will activate the __k__ontorōru-me too.' 'Just wait till then Sasgay. We'll see what the oh so great sharingan can do.'_

* * *

I looked at my reflection in the large mirror in my room. **"You seriously need a new outfit." **_'I don't know Inner. I mean with the all the bright red and pink I have on everyone will think I still the weak clueless fan girl as always. And the best ninja is the one that hides in plain sight. They'll never know what hit them.'_ Inner chuckles evilly in the background. My clothes were wrinkled and covered in dust. My hair was sticking in every direction. My eyes were red and puffy and ached from all the crying I did over their words yesterday. No wondered that poor chunnin froze up like that. I look like hell on earth. My stomach growled as I stepped away from the desk to look over my dusty form. _ 'First I need a shower and food in that order.'_

I stepped into the shower and let the warm water soothe my sore muscles. I felt the steady thrum of water against my back wash away my worries for a short amount of time. By the time I was dressed I was too tired to cook anything and instead headed to Ichiraku's. _'I guess this is the consequence of having Naruto as a team mate. A terrible diet made up of mostly ramen.' _**"Ramen again! You're killing our body! Stupid ramen obsessed blondes."**

* * *

I walked into the restaurant, if you could even call it that, and order a miso ramen and sat down with a sigh. After a few bite I saw Naruto step in with a grim and apologetic expression on his face. He quietly sat down next to me and turned to face around to face me. "I'm really sorry Sakura-chan. I never want you off the team. I was stupid sensei's and the teme's fault."

"It's alright Naruto I don't blame you." I faintly smiled at him as I looked down at my bowl of ramen suddenly losing my appetite.

"I know that Kakashi and Sasuke think I'm weak and am dragging you guys behind."

"YOU'RE NOT WEAK SAKURA-CHAN. No matter what sensei and Sasuke say. Trust me I think I would know. You can pack in quite a punch."

"No Naruto. Everyone else thinks so too. I heard them talking about me yesterday. The rest of the rookie 9 and Team Guy. They all think I'm weak and hate me. I thought they were my friends but everyone I thou-"

"Not exactly everyone" I heard Shikamaru drawl as he and Shino stepped into the ramen stand from behind the sign. "We know you're not pathetic Sakura. You were one of the smartest people in the academy."

"It's true. You are a fairly skilled ninja and you can grow a lot stronger too." said Shino in a quiet voice.

I turned around shocked that they didn't think I was weak. _'Naruto, Shikamaru, and Shino. They really think I'm not weak.' _"B-but I thought that you all…'

"**Don't start stuttering like that Hyuuga now." **_'You're back.' _**"Of course I'm back where else would I go?" **

'…' "**Don't listen to those idiots Sakura. They don't know how strong you are and how much pain you've gone through. These people who know that you're not some weak and obsessed fan girl are your true friends. They know how strong you really are." **_'Thanks Inner' _**"Now when do we get to the part where we kick the butts of those morons who pissed us off."**_ 'Soon…pretty soon'_

"Sakura-chan?...Sakura-chan! SAKURA!"

"Huh? Naruto? What?"

"I was saying that you shouldn't pay attention to what anyone else says. We believe in you."

"Thanks Naruto. And you too Shikamaru and Shino. At least you guys think so."

"The rest of them are just fools." Shikamaru drawled.

"It would do you good if you ignore what the others said and focus on what you need to do. Just like how everyone called Naruto here the dead last but in the end he won against Kiba and Neji in the chunnin exams." Shino quietly said. Naruto just sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck at the praise from the usually aloof and quiet boy.

* * *

After we finished the ramen that we ordered we each went to our separate homes. Naruto and I to our similar run down and lonely places. As I slowly dragged myself back home, I tilted my head back to look at clear night sky. I let out a sigh as I looked at the stars that twinkled happily without a care in the world, so different from my life right now. I stopped at the door of my house and looked up to the moon. It glowed a lustrous white against the black canvas behind it. A mysterious and shockingly bright white just like Shikou. His bright white hair and mysterious emerald colored eyes so alike my own.

I sighed and stepped into my house. I should be going to bed now since I knew that starting tomorrow I needed to start training. I will keep that promise no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. And I will prove how strong I am.

* * *

Thank you for the reviews! I never understood why other writers practically begged for reviews but now PLEASE REVIEW. It's what keeps the chapters going. Tell me if anyone has any requests, suggestions, or if I go completely off track and add way to many random things.

Does anyone know what the teleporting thing is called?

I have nothing against Sasuke. It's just really easy to show him as someone who is consumed by his hunger for power on his quest for revenge.

This fic was originally going to be an Itasaku but I didn't wanna start off with a romantic fic or I'd probably mess it all up but I'm probably gonna write one soon.


	3. Kontorōru-me

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. I guess some dreams just don't come true or I would be the owner right now.

Inner is there for a reason and not just to be funny that you'll find out about in this chapter and the next few.

**Smilleeeesss-** Thank you for the idea. I didn't really know what to do with Shikou but that's a great idea. I'm probably gonna use it so look forward to that in a few chapters. I wanna you the idea but without Shikou as a completely evil person.

* * *

As the sun rose over Konoha the next morning a certain pink-haired kunochi could walking in the empty streets toward the dark forest near the training grounds. After walking in the forest for about 20 minutes she arrived at a fairly large clearing that was hidden in the dense forest. All over the clearing there were many old targets and other things that had obviously not been used for quite a few years. At the edge of the clearing was an average sized pond.

Sakura POV:

'_I'm back.' _Sigh. '_I never thought I'd see this place again. I'm surprised no one ever found it but most people are too scared because this part of the training grounds is near the Forest of Death. It was Shikou's private training grounds and still is since no one ever comes here.'_

She started stretching her muscles and set out her weapons and scrolls.

'_I guess I'll start with some lap and target practice. Next I'll practice my chakra control on the pond. Then I'd better start on the Ryu-Tsume. I can't really do much until I'm flexible enough. Once I master it though, hehehe, you better watch out.'_ I slipped on ten pound weights on each arm and leg and set off on my laps.

I heard a faint cackle as Inner planned out different scenarios of what would happen to those back stabbers. An evil smirk bloomed across my face as I set of to train.

* * *

The days passed by quickly. Every morning Sakura would wake up, eat a little, and go train as the sun. The number of her morning laps quickly increased as the days passes. Her weapons would almost always hit the targets and she had mastered almost all the jutsus she had learned as well as a few new ones.

Her chakra control which was already impressive for a genin became a lot better as she could now steadily control chakra on the rest of her body instead of just her hands and feet.

She had also started on learning kenjutsu (swords) but would need a teacher soon.

A few weeks after she had started her training she tried to make a kage bushin and succeed. She discovered that she would learn everything the bushin did she began to use a few a day, so she would not exhaust herself by producing a hundred like Naruto, but still substantially increasing her chakra reserves.

She would practice every day until it became too dark to train and would go home to read some scrolls.

The intensive training paid off as Sakura quickly grew more powerful but the short amount of time she had been doing it was not enough to make up for all the years she had lacked off.

* * *

Three months later:

Sakura dragged her worn body home since the sun had set down a while ago and there was no longer enough light for her see enough to continue training. The weights on her arms and feet dragging them down even more. _'I can barely move but I need to get stronger. 'Why do the training grounds have to be on the other side off the village?' _

The daily routine of waking up as the sun rose and going to the training grounds with some food, scrolls, and weapons and returning when it became dark became tradition. The weights were left on but were increased by another 10 pounds every month. She had just increased them by another ten pounds that morning.

As she neared the village gates on her way back, she stopped a dark figure heading out of the gates.

Sakura POV:

'_I wonder who that is.' 'Wait, where are the sentries?' _The security increased a lot after the Sound and Orochimaru attacked.

I walked towards the gates and saw that the person was Sasuke. "What do you think you're doing Sasuke?"

He froze and turned around but relaxed as he saw it was just me. A smirk came across his face. "What do you think I'm doing Sakura? Or are you that stupid that you wouldn't even know that?"

'_Why that spoiled little ^#$*%&!' _

"Do you really think that you could just walk out of the village like that?"

"No one can stop me Sakura. Most of all you." His smirk turned into a sneer. "I will get stronger and avenge my clan and staying in this pathetic village will only hold me back."

"We'll see how far you can get, traitor."

"What, you aren't gonna start begging 'oh please don't go Sasuke-kun, I love you. God, you're just a pathetic little girl with a big dream of becoming a ninja. Go back home and waste your useless tears on how pathetic you are. You have no hope at being a ninja. You should just give up and live like one of those no faced civilians like the rest of your family because that's all you are a weak annoying fan girl."

It hurt a lot because I knew that was true but that is gonna change. It already is changing.

"**That's it. That son of a #$%^ is going down."**

My face transformed in a glare and I positioned my tired body in the correct position for Ryu Tsume.

Sasuke just scoffed and disappeared. My eyes widened as I felt his presence appear right behind me. The last thing I heard was "Weak." Before I felt a jab on my neck and my world went black.

* * *

Weak. Weak. Weak. Weak.

The mantra echoed again and again. "No I'm not. I'M NOT!"

I shot up and saw some blonde lady I'm front of me. "You're finally awake." "Huh? Where am I? What happened?...Sasuke! He left!" _'I'm so pathetic. I couldn't even stop for a few minutes. He just knocked me out and left me on a bench. Wait a bench! He left me outside on a bench!"_

"Yeah, Naruto just left with a team to retrieve the Uchiha a few hours ago. Some ninja from the Sand just left too as backup." She said as she turned to look at the gates. "Thought you might wanna know about what happened to Naruto. The gaki said he wanted to wait for you to wake up so you could go with them but most of the other people on the team, they…"

"I know they think I'm too weak." After a few minutes of silence I looked up at the lady. "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Huh?" She looked down at me in surprise. "That gaki didn't tell you? My name is Tsunade, but you can call me Hokage-sama."

She smiled at me as my eyes widened. _'This was who Naruto was talking about when he said he left with that perverted old sage.'_

"I've gotta go now. Duty calls. You should just go home and wait until Naruto comes back." And she turned around and left.

'_Hurry up Naruto and please be safe.'_

* * *

A few days later Sakura was on her way to the hospital.

Sakura POV:

Naruto came back two days ago but Tsunade-sama was busy healing him so I never got a chance to see how he's doing. Those past two days I trained harder than ever to forget about my pain and anxiousness. It's not like he woke up during those two days anyway. There are limits even to having the Kyubbi contained inside of you. Mainly when you are trying to recover from having a hole punched through your chest.

'_That bastard! How could he?! After everything Naruto went through to find him, what does he get, a hole through his chest. Wait till I get my hands on that traitor.'_

I paused in front of Naruto's door surprised that I got there so quickly. _ 'That's what happens when you're day dreaming. Time flies."_

I opened the door and looked inside to see Naruto sitting on his bed with a grumpy expression on his face.

"Stupid hospitals. OHHH! Sakura-chan when did you get here?"

I smiled at him. "I just came by to see how you were doing. It's not every day you are nearly killed and have a hole in your chest." I said the last part with a dark look on my face.

Naruto's face immediately grew guilty and he looked down at his hands that were covered in casts. _'His whole body is covered in a cast.'_

"**MUMMY!"**

"I'm really sorry Sakura-chan." _'Huh?'_

"I didn't bring Sasuke back. I was too weak."

"It's not your fault Naruto and besides I don't like Sasuke anymore. He's a rude and arrogant and is a power hungry traitor. He left us and the village for power."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE! He'll be back. I'll bring him back some day once I grow strong enough. He's one of my best friends like you Sakura-chan. I can look past the fact that he left the village because he and I, we have a connection. We're the only ones who know what it feels like to surrounded by people but be completely alone on the inside." He became silent and looked back down at his hands.

"That's where you're wrong." I whispered but he still heard me because of his enhanced hearing thanks to Kyubbi.

"Huh?"

"You aren't the only ones Naruto. There are other people who know what it feels like. Like you're surrounding by lots of people but you're the only one who cares. The only one who cares you is about yourself. Your existence in the world seems as though it is pointless and worthless to everyone including you. That's why you tried to be the class clown in the academy and do pranks…It's why I tried so hard to get people's attention even if it was for bad things."

"The bright pink and red outfit. Most of the loud fan girl part of me was to gain attention from someone because I knew that even when Sasuke ignored me other people were paying attention to me."

"At first I only did it for attention. Later I realized that even though both Sasuke's and my life were filled with pain we dealt with it in different ways. He seemed to deal with it in the exact opposite way of me. He always seemed calm and collected like he would never cry while I shed tears for my family nearly every day. He trained himself to become better to get revenge while I stayed away from most weapons and physical activity because of what happened to my parents."

"What happened to them?" Naruto asked me quietly.

"They died. They were killed in front of me by missing-nin. Them and the remaining members of my clan. But at least I had one person with me while you and Sasuke didn't have anyone." I said the last part even more quietly.

If he heard me Naruto did not ask me anything about it. We all knew what it left like to be so lonely.

The time passed as we sat there in silence reminiscing in our pasts. I was about to leave as a nurse came to check up on Naruto. She threw a glare at him although she tried to hide it to some extent I saw her and glared at her. I stayed and glared at her until she was finished and nearly ran out of the room.

"It's alright Sakura-chan that always happens. It's not a big deal." He tried to brush it away and planted a large smile on his face.

"It's not alright. These people really need to learn the difference between a prison and a prisoner."

He stared at me shocked that I knew about Kyubbi. "H-h-how did you…?"

I justly smiled fondly at him. "I know the difference between a prison and it prisoner Naruto and it wasn't really that hard to add up. You were born on the same day that Kyubbi was defeated, the red chakra, the enhanced hearing, smell, and healing. It wasn't too hard to figure it out. You're my team mate, I know you pretty well Naruto and I know you're not some demon or monster."

"Bye. I'll see you tomorrow and get some ramen for you." I said as I slipped out the door and headed home.

'_Naruto's gonna be so happy when I get that ramen. A nice change compared to bland hospital food.'_

* * *

A few weeks later: (In episode 141 in season 4 of the anime Sakura and Naruto go on a mission with Jiraiya and are fighting against Arashi, Sasame's brother. Naruto gets trapped in)

"NARUTO!"

"Arrgghhhh!" His pain filled scream echoed throughout the cavern.

In vain I tried to cut the chakra string. _'Please please don't let him die. Cut. Cut. Cut.'_

"No matter how hard you try it won't cut." said a rasping voice behind me. I spun around tears in my eyes at the hopelessness of my situation.

Another scream tore out of Naruto's mouth. I looked back to see that the prism he was in had shrunk even smaller.

"Hold on Naru-"

I looked down to see a katana sticking through chest and vaguely felt my blood pour out of my mouth. I screamed at the white hot pain that flashed through my body. I fell to my knees as I body could no longer hold me up.

I saw black spots dance into my vision. I heard the squelch of the sword being ripped from my body. I world tilted as my body fell forward on to the ground with a thud and all I could hear was this buzzing that surrounded me.

'_Is this it? That's it? What about everything I wanted? What about the people I loved? I still haven't kept my promise. I can't die yet. Not now'_

I slowly opened my eyes and everything was blurred except for Naruto's agonized face right in front of me. He was screaming something at me.

'_No. I'm not gonna die here. I can't.'_** "It's alright Sakura you won't die yet. Not if I can help it."**

"Sakura!" Naruto screamed

I felt Inner constant but faint presence disappear as an aura appeared around my body. Inner who had always felt like a small distant part of mind that had no control over me suddenly seemed to fuse with the rest of my mind. My wounds immediately started healing as I got up onto my feet. Everything around me grew focused. I blinked at the sudden change. _'Where is all this chakra coming from? What's happening to me?' _As I looked around I saw the messed up chakra circulatory system of the now half monster half human creature and Naruto's blue one with red in the center. _'Kyubbi?' _

He screamed again. I quickly looked into the distorted creature's eyes and willed him to release Naruto and the few seconds he dropped the prism was more than enough. Using a jutsu I quickly disabled my weights and grabbed the double pronged kunai. I lunged at the creature and stabbed the kunai through his heart.

Pulling it out I jumped back as it roared. The unstable hideout began to collapse as the monster. I quickly grabbed Naruto and hoisted him onto my back. As I turned to flee I heard the human part of the creature softly say his last words. "Please, take care of Sasame." I briefly nodded before the ceiling caved in.

'_It's too late!' _The extra chakra that came out of nowhere disappears and I once more felt Inner's presence disappear to an unknown part of my mind. The chakra I felt flowing towards my eyes stopped a few seconds later. I fell to my knees from near chakra depletion. _'We can't die yet. What about our dreams and precious people? Naruto becoming Hokage and me keeping my promise.' _I waited for the unavoidable death that was sure to come.

The building rumbled once again and some of the debris was fell as down large cracks formed in the ceiling. Tears sprung into my eyes blurring my vision and I closed my eyes. A loud boom echoed through the few standing parts of the cavern as the ceiling collapsed. I opened my eyes a few seconds later to look death in the eye and die like an honorable ninja. Instead of the ceiling falling on me and Naruto like I expected, I heard Jiraiya yelling at me to get on the giant toad.

'_I never thought I would be glad to see that pervy old sage'_ Using my remaining strength I tried to haul Naruto and myself onto the toad's back. I felt its wet tongue lift us up and dump us on its back.

"**Ewww. Toad slime." **A small smile appeared on my face at Inner comment but mostly because we made it. I did something. Instead of uselessly standing there like I did on previous missions I actually did something. The smile remained on my face as I drifted off into unconsciousness.

* * *

You know the drill. Review please. Tell me what you think about it.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto.

I'm sorry I took so long to update but that won't happen again.

Here's a timeline of what happened so far.

When Sakura was 4- Her clan was nearly annihilated by the Mist but the remaining members fled to Konoha.

7-The ninja from the mist finish off the rest of the clan excluding Sakura and Shikou.

9- Shikou leaves.

11- The story starts.

13-Sasuke leaves.

* * *

I woke up to the unmistakable smell of antiseptic. Leaving my eyes closed I analyzed my situation. The constant beeping of the machine and the muffled chatter of those outside the room I was in. After a few minutes I sat up and yawned.

I slowly sat up and leaned on my pillows. I winced at the pain it caused. _'I'd love to have some of Naruto's healing abilities right about now.'_

I looked around and noticed I was in a fairly small and clean white room but the curtains on my right blocked out the rest if the view though I could still see the door. A window on my left showed the faces of the hokages carved into the mountain.

I sighed and let my head fall back onto the pillows as I tried to remember how I got here.

'_Oh yeah. The fight with Samaru's brother. I prepared to look death in the eye and instead I saw a pervy old sage.'_

I softly chuckled to myself though the humor died as quickly as it had appeared. I sighed and stopped trying to lighten the mood. I knew the moment I saw my and Naruto's inevitable deaths in front of me I felt a part of myself die. The reality of the life of a ninja was not what I tried to elude myself into believing. But once I saw face to face the fact that a ninja is always on the line between death and life I knew that I had to get rid of the picture I tried to paint throughout the years. You could die at any moment like my family did. I could no longer afford play off my life as this half unrealistic thing I was seeing it as. If I wanted to survive I had train hard because it was real. Survival of the fittest. I still had things to live for. Naruto, avenging my family, and Shikou.

I faced the possibility of my death again except this time I didn't have my family to save me like I did in Whirlpool when were almost wiped out nor did I have my brother to protect me from the nin that brutally murdered my parents and remaining family. This time I only had myself. I had to be the one who had to save and protect Naruto. And I nearly failed.

I couldn't afford to do that again. I have to be stronger.

'_How did I defeat Orochimaru's minion? What was that power? Do you know Inner?'_

"**Too tired."**

'_What! Inner can't get tired. Isn't she just some sort of part of my mind, my imagination? She's never been tired before. What's wrong now? Is it another one of my family secrets? I'll have to look in the scrolls. Talking about family secrets…'_

I pumped a small amount of chakra into my eyes. Everything became clearer. I smirked as I realized part of what happened during the battle. Kontororu-me. Finally!

I could see a person's charka circulatory system on the bed next to me. It was red in the center.

'_Naruto. At least I know he's safe.'_

He groaned and turned around. I quickly deactivated my kekkei genkai and opened up the curtain between us. I smiled softly and chuckled as I heard him mumble something like 'don't leave me my ramen.' My amusement faded as I made out the bandages around his frame.

'_I'm sorry Naruto. If only I was strong enough I could have helped you more.'_

I looked down at my own bandages that were probably there because of the sword that stabbed me. The sound of the door opening startled me out of my thoughts and I saw one of the nurses walk in. She took our vitals all the while looking at Naruto with something akin to fear, disgust, and pure unadulterated hatred. I carefully watched her to make sure she didn't do anything to Naruto.

I relaxed my face from its previous glare as the nurse left. I let out a frustrated sigh. _'Why can't people tell the difference between Naruto and the Kyubbi? If Naruto were really the Kyubbi he would have destroyed Konoha by now. We need to do something about this. Naruto doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. Don't worry Naruto. I'll find a way to fix this.' _

I settled myself back into a comfortable position and let sleep take a hold of me.

* * *

_T__he dream always started the same way. I woke up in the dead of the night hearing screams and the sharp clangs of metal against metal. I looked around the dark room trying to assess my situation but the sliver of moonlight that found its way through the curtains didn't provide any help. I started crying, confused and scared at all the noise. I scrambled out of my bed and stumbled to the door, my tears blinding what little I could see. As I came closer to the door it was blasted open hitting the wall next to it with a loud thud was crying._

_I screamed and scrambled away from it as I saw a shadowy figure standing in my doorway holding a katana covered in blood. His face came into view as he took a step back. I felt my whole body trembling as I looked up into his cold merciless light blue eyes. My heart started beating faster with every passing second as he raised his katana. I closed my eyes as he swung the blade but instead of pain I heard a pain filled scream followed by the sound of the katana falling on the floor. I looked up to see the man's face and chest covered in a long gash that ran from his left temple down to the center of his chest missing his eye by a hair. His eyes were filled with pain and rage._

_I looked next to him at my brother who was holding a sword. Shikou thrust the sword at the man once again this time stabbing him through his stomach. He kicked the man away from us and ran towards me. He ran to the window and opened it and came back to me and scooped me up. Carrying me he jumped out of the one-story window. He ran the group of hedges behind the house and quickly opened the hidden trapdoor behind the bushes. He ran inside pausing momentarily to close the door behind us. We ran through the maze of tunnels surrounded by darkness but he knew which way to go since we learned about the tunnels years ago. After what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes we arrived at one of the exits leading to the outside of the village. We ran a bit farther and hid in some bushes. I hugged myself sitting next to my brother waiting for something to happen._

_My surroundings changed into my house in Konoha that we moved onto after we fled from Whirlpool with my family and a few remaining members of the clan. I just arrived home from the academy that I joined a few months back. I walked into the small community to find it completely barren. _

_I heard a scream before it was abruptly cut off. It was from the house next to mine. I ran into my house and stopped when I walked into the door. My mother was on the floor a kunai protruding out of her chest and a man held my father. I heard someone run inside the house and stop next to me and take a step back. Another man came out of the shadows laughing. I gasped as I recognized him. _

_He had a long scar that ran across his face and disappeared into shirt. The hauntingly familiar eyes were filled with pure unadulterated hatred. He slit my father's neck with the same katana he had years before. He looked back towards us and took as step forward as I took one back. He threw two kunais, one at me and another at Shikou. I saw the kunai fly towards me and-_

* * *

I shot up out of my bed panting. One of my hands was on my chest where the kunai had embedded itself in me. I sighed in relief as I saw that I was still in the hospital room. I still had a scar from where the kunai stabbed me before the anbu arrived. Luckily Shikou was able to dodge it right before the anbu came but the two ninja managed to escape.

I let out a few tears of relief and pain at the memories. I thought I had stopped getting these dreams years ago. I looked over a Naruto who was resting peacefully. He deserves a good night's rest without the glares of the villagers haunting him. I sighed and lay back down on my bed.

'_At least I don't have to stay here as long as the time when that happened.'_

I looked out the window succumbed into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The day I was discharged from the hospital I immediately went home. I locked the door behind me after I entered the house. I nearly ran to the attic and opened the door on the ground. Once again I lit the torch which was connected to a few other torches around the room, lighting up the entire room.

I started looking through the shelves trying to find some clue about what Inner really was. After a half hour of scanning through the shelves I finally found a large scroll titled the second soul. I took it out of the shelf and found some sort of seal on it. I recognized it as one of the kind the needed a certain person's blood on it. I bit my thumb and smeared the blood that came out onto the seal which immediately disappear. I took the scroll with back and went into my room. I sat at my desk and opened the scroll and started reading.

* * *

A few days later I finished reading the scroll taking breaks eating and training and sleeping. I had learned that Inner was one of the secrets that the Haruno clan had kept. Inner was like a second being inside of me except that she was like a conscious and I controlled. In short a talking, walking giant chakra reserve that I could activate whenever I wanted or would automatically activate when my chakra was nearly depleted. The Inner persona takes a tiny bit of my chakra every day, since the time I was born, and stores it in itself until I need it. The larger your chakra reserves are the more it stores. Once you use a large amount of your chakra reserve the Inner being will get tired and you will not be able to use it for a while. I closed the scroll with a smile on my face.

* * *

The next morning I woke up and slowly got up and dressed and ate like usual. I walked out of my house and headed towards the Yamanaka's flower shop. The dark clouds forebode rain matching my sullen expression. Luckily Ino wasn't there but instead her mother was. I walked out of the store with numerous flowers in my hands. Two of those flowers stood out, the white and pink lilies with dark green stems.

I slowly made my way back to my house. I walked into the forest at the back of the community where everyone was buried. I placed a flower at each of the graves. At the end I stopped at a spot where two graves were placed right next to each other. I set each of the lilies on one of the graves. I knelt down if front of them. I slowly traced the words that were carved into the stone a few years ago. _Hiroto Haruno_ and _Yuki Haruno_. Today was the day they were killed. The first few raindrops started to fall as I stared at the graves._ 'I promise that I'll be strong enough to make you proud.'  
_I walked back into the house, this time with more resolve to work even harder and get even stronger.

* * *

Review please.


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